Читать книгу Claiming The Chaperon's Heart - Anne Herries, Anne Herries - Страница 7

Prologue

‘If you do this for me I shall be yours and all that I own will be at your disposal,’ the woman said. Her pale olive-toned skin looked smooth and soft in the candlelight, her black velvet eyes as dark as night, but lit from within by a silver flame. She was a beautiful woman, sure of her power, and she sensed that he wanted her so badly that he could almost taste his need. The perfume she wore was heavy and had the exotic tang of musk and ambergris, and the jewels around her neck were worth a king’s ransom. She was the daughter of an Indian prince and the granddaughter of an English earl, proud, haughty and vengeful—and the hatred of the man who had spurned her burned deep within her breast. ‘He used me cruelly and deserted me—I want him dead. Only his death will assuage the wrong he has done me...’

She leaned closer to the man, allowing him to inhale the scent of her body, knowing that she had the power to drive men to near madness in their desire for her. She could have had almost any man she wanted and yet one had eluded her and it was he alone she wanted. He had refused her offer to lie with her, to wed her and live in her palace, had told her that he did not love her—and she felt the bitter pain of his rejection like a snake’s sting. He would learn that he could not walk away from her! In her anger she was lost to all sense of reason. She would make certain that he died a painful death for deserting her.

This poor fool who looked at her like a starving man was not the only one she had promised her favours, but the other was unlikely to do her bidding, though he loved her. This one had his own reasons for giving her the revenge she craved; she had picked him carefully and she knew that he would do whatever she asked for the promise of rich rewards. He was greedy, this one, and as desirous of vengeance as she was herself.

‘He wronged you as he wronged me,’ she hissed at him. ‘Go to England. Follow him and do as I have asked you—and when you return you shall have all you desire and more...’

‘Yes, I shall do your bidding, sweet lady, for I have business that takes me there. When it is complete and I have done as you ask, I shall return to claim my reward.’

A cruel smile touched her lips. He would have more than he desired for she would keep him only for as long as it pleased her...her heart was as cold as ice now, for he had broken it and she hated him.

The fool knelt before her and kissed the hem of her costly robes. ‘I vow that I shall bring your enemy and mine to justice,’ he said. ‘Either he or I shall lie dead when this is over...but he is unsuspecting and I know him for the trusting fool he is. He will never know what is afoot until I take his life.’

She felt a trickle of fear slide down her spine and for a moment she wanted to take back all the hateful words. She loved the man who had refused her and his death could bring her no real satisfaction, and in that moment she knew that revenge could only bring her grief—and yet he had humbled her pride and he must pay. Anger and pride fought against softer emotions and won. She stared at the fool kneeling before her and knew he was not fit to kiss the feet of the man she loved, but her pain and grief was too deep and must be assuaged by blood.

After he had gone she was possessed by a wild restlessness that had her pacing until she realised that even revenge could not assuage the pain in her heart. Indeed, the thought of his death brought even more agony. Sinking to her knees, she wept until the storm of anger and despair had left her and then she knew that she had betrayed her own heart. She did not want the man she loved dead, but here with her, a smile of love on his face.

She must recall the fool who did her bidding so easily and tell him that she no longer wished him to kill for her.

Then, as she saw the sun had risen in the sky, she knew it was too late. His ship was already on its way and because he wanted the rewards she had promised he would do her bidding... His death would be her sin.

Giving a cry of terrible despair, she fell senseless to the ground.